We’ve made detailed submissions, we’ve triggered Departmental inquiries, we’ve used Freedom of Information to expose holes in assessments, we’ve helped 25,000 people make submissions to processes, we’ve published full page advertisements and we’ve written large on a beach our call to protect the Reef from coal. All to no avail: the Australian government has not acted to protect the Reef and prevent the expansion of our biggest contribution to climate change.

Today Greenpeace has dramatically stepped up its campaign to stop Australia’s biggest contribution to climate change from getting any bigger, by boarding a bulk carrier filled with thermal coal, leaving Australia bound for Asia.

Plans are underway to roughly double the volume of coal exports from Australia. At the same time the big coal importing markets will increasingly be reluctant to get on board. The assumption that coal exports will provide energy access to millions in countries like India is not quite true. Within India, this debate is fast moving to decentralised Renewable Energy, as a quick and cheaper model. A sentiment echoed by the Chief Minister of India’s energy starved states, Bihar. It is also estimated that solar power will be as cheap as coal for retail purchasers in India by 2015.

The high likelihood of China’s new air pollution policies will mean an 18% drop in expected global coal trade in 2015.With up to 30% of imports reliant on China, this will drastically impact Australia. The question arises – why create and develop infrastructure that is susceptible to huge economic losses?

But the declining demand side is only one argument against Australian coal: such proposed expansion ridicules the country’s commitment to take action to limit global warming to below 2 degrees C. We’ve all seen what climate change is doing to Australia. In the past few months, Australia has suffered its "angry summer" with extreme with extreme heat, bushfires and floods across the country. Over ten thousand Australians, including the country’s most respected climate scientists and academics and over 40 non-government organisations from around the country have called for the expansion of coal to stop.

The activists are on board the bulk carrier, MV Meister, are not just Australian. Greenpeace is campaigning against the expansion of coal mining, power and exports in China, India and the United States, and the multinational team of volunteers peacefully occupying a coal shipment from Australia today are representative of a region-wide campaign to bring about the end of the age of coal.

In the absence of any action being taken by the political or business leadership to tackle this problem, Greenpeace is calling for people around the world - in physically preventing the expansion of coal, through peaceful civil disobedience. If you support Greenpeace’s action, sign the statement we’ll be publishing in the Australian Financial Review here.

Here all of us got the information why the Climate Action Network, therefor Greenpeace, is said to be part of the problem rather an instrument to raise awareness and create a CHANGE.

1.5°C is said to be 'cognitive disonce...what is your senior scientists doing?

Everytime on its Roundtrip from the Amazon via oceans to down under Greenpeace is delivering one of these proofs of ultimate creativity.

May I ask: what did you change with years of Reef Missions?

Has there been any decline in coal production not linked to any economic reasons?

But we acknowledged: after having been in service for 19 month the Rainbow Warrior worth more than 30 Million was involved in one Anchor Chain Blocking in Brazil and no you boarded a bulk carrier...question: did you fail to block the anchor chain, or did you actually try to deliver a different image this time?

Sun Wu, GODFATHER of Rainbow Warrior III

PS: I like the painting of Esperanza's crew...illegal, what a piece of art-work. Painting ships and blocking anchor chains, I would call this wonderful pieces of Action...meanwhile we sign a online-petition to stop something and fly on vacation.

PPS: how is finance of Greenpeace Australia doing? Did Australians at least donate sufficient to pay for 300-400 tons of fuel which RW most likely has burned in recent month while climbing vertical swamps in the subbies and doing some diving at the Great Barrier Reef?

Wouldn't it be a shame if Greenpeace Australia would still be facing bancruptcy?

Hey, come on, you sent the Rainbow Warrior, the least Kiwis/Aussies can do is to donate...and we continue to make our facebook-community believe 1.5°C is still possible IF they sign a sufficient number of online-petitions!